The Meaning of Leftist-Rightist Self-Identification and Its Effect on the Vote

Empirical data are used to show that leftist-rightist self-identifications in the Netherlands are strongly associated with both dimensions comprising ideological space: SE leftist-rightist & politico-cultural libertarianism/authoritarianism. Since these two dimensions are only slightly related to each other, leftist-rightist self-identification seems to lack unambiguous content validity. Using LISREL procedures in causal modeling, & taking leftist-rightist self-identification as determined by both ideological dimensions, it is shown that the former is only the best predictor of the vote if the parties are ordered along the leftist-rightist dimension; when they are ordered along the libertarian-authoritarian dimension, religion is the best predictor. Moreover, self-identification is itself more strongly determined by religion & by libertarianism-authoritarianism than by SC & SE leftist-rightist ideology. The relative minor importance of materialism-postmaterialism as a determinant of either the leftist-rightist or the libertarian-authoritarian vote is confirmed. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 13 References. Modified HA